Indeed, cancer cells sustain hypoxia by upregulating the BCL2 interacting protein 3 (BNIP3)/BNIP3-like (BNIP3L), which in turn induces Beclin-1 dependent autophagy by destabilizing Bcl-2-Beclin-1 complex (Lin et al., 2014). This evidence concerns the gene BNIP3 and cancer.